S O V 



the fecond rank, in Chen-fi. N. lat. 39° 38'. E. lon^. 



08'' 44'. , „ 



SOUADI, or SouALLY, a town of Egypt, on the ealt 

 fide of the Nile ; 23 miles S. of Abu Girge. This burgh 

 is governed by a cachef; and weft of it are two Coptic 

 monatteries, fituated at the entrance of the defert. 1 heir 

 churches are ornamented with Corinthian pillars, with a 

 crofs in the middle of the capital; and they are paved with 

 red granite, covered with hieroglyphics. Their architefture 

 is faid by Savary to indicate the decline of tafte among the 

 Greeks. They are thought to have been built by the em- 

 prefs Helena. On the fpace between them are Ihewed 

 antique marbles. Thefe remains point out the fcite of 

 Crocodilopolis, or the facred city ot this name, which was 

 far from the river, and which Ptolemy places after Aphro- 

 ditopolis, or the city of Venus. 



SOUADY, or Sohar, a fmall ifland in the Arabian 

 fea, near the coaft of Oman. N. lat. 24° 14'. 



SOVANA, a town of Etruria, the fee of a bifhop ; 45 

 miles N.N.W. of Rome. 



SOUANANPOUR, a town of Hindooftan, in Gol- 

 conda; 10 miles S. of Hydrabad. 



SOVANOCALCHI, in yjncic-nt Geography, a people 

 of Afiatic Sarmatia, upon the banks of the Euxine fea. 

 Ptolemy. 



SOUBES, in Geography, a town of France, in the de- 

 partment of the Herault ; 3 miles N. of Lodeve. 



SOUBIZE, a town of France, in the department of the 

 Lower Charente ; 3 miles W. of Rochefort. 



SOUC, a town of Thibet ; 360 miles N.N.E. of Laffa. 

 N. lat. 33° 18'. E. long. 94° 24'. 



SOUCTOU, a mountain of Thibet. N. lat. 32° 18'. 

 E. long. 84° 19',. 



SOUCY, a town of France, in the department of the 

 Yonne ; 19 miles S. of Provins. 



SOUD AH, a rocky defert country of Africa, between 

 Tripoli and Fezzan. 



SOUDAN, from Souda or Suda, which fignifies in 

 Arabic black, a name given by the Moors and Arabs to 

 Negroland, or Nigritia ; and fometimes more particularly 

 to the empire of HaufTa, or HoulTa. Abulfeda includes 

 the whole lower part of Africa, fouth of the Great Defert 

 and Egypt, under the denomination of Belad Soudan, or 

 the country of Soudan. With him Soudan is the fouthern 

 quarter of the globe ; and d'Herbelot alfo allows it a wide 

 range. See Negroland. 



SOUDE ST. CROIX, a town of France, in the de- 

 partment of the Marne ; 10 miles W. of Vitry. 



SOVEIB, a town of the Arabian Irak, on the Eu- 

 phrates ; 20 miles N.W. of Baflora. 



SOUE-KI, a town of China, of the third rank, in 

 Quang-tong ; 30 miles S.W. of Hoa. 



SOVEL, a fmall i^and in the Chinefe fea, near the coaft 

 of Tonquin. N. lat. 11^ 2'. E. long. 105° 25'. 



SOUE-OUIE-CHAN, a town of Corea ; 30 miles 

 N.W. of Loncr-kouan. 



SOVERDEM, a town of Italy ; 3 miles N. of Bel- 

 luno. 



SOVEREIGN, Supreme, the chief and higheft Being, 

 or the Almighty ; a term, in ftriftnefs, only applicable to 

 God. 



The word is French, founieratn ; which Pafquier derives 

 farther from the Latin ftiperior, the firft in any thing ; or 

 he who is fuperior to the rcit. Hence, 



In the ancient Frencli cuftoms we meet with fovereign 

 mailer of the houfehold ; fovereign mafter of the forefts ; 

 fovereign mailer of the treafury. Under Charles VI. the 



S O V 



title fovereign was given to bailiffs and fcnefchals, with re- 

 gard to their fuperiority over prevots, and chatelains. 



Sovereign, with regard to fubjefts, is applied to kings 

 and princes, who are fupreme and independent. 



The authority of a fovereign is only bounded by the law 

 of God, of nature, and the fundamental laws of the ftate. 

 See King. See Sovereignty, infra. 



Sovereign is alfo a title given to fuch as are invefted 

 with certain rights and prerogatives, which belong only to 

 fovereigns ; as the power of coining money, fending agents 

 to diets, to treat of war and peace, &c. 



In which fenfe the feudatories of the empire, and the tri- 

 butaries of the grand fignior, are called fovereigns. 



Sovereign is alfo applied to courts and judges, who 

 have a power from a prince to decide the proceffes of his 

 fubjefts without appeal, or in the lalt refort. 



At Paris, under the old regime, there were five fovereign 

 companies : the parliament, the chamber of accounts, the 

 court of aids, the grand council, and the court of monies. 



In England we have but one fovereign court, which is 

 the houfe of lords. 



Sovereign, in Engl'ijh Coinage, a gold coin of 20s. value, 

 equal to the double ryal, which was coined by order of 

 Henry VII. in the year 1485 ; and this was accompanied 

 by the double fovereign of 40J. Henry VIII., in 1527, 

 added to the gold denominations fovereigns of 22s. 6d., and 

 ryals of lis. ^d., angels of yx. 6d., and nobles at their old 

 value of 6s. 8</. In 1546 the fame prince, after raifing the 

 value of filver, and making it to gold as i to 5, ftruck , 

 fovereigns of the former value of 20s., and half-fovereigns 

 in proportion. Upon the union of the crowns, James I. of 

 England gave the fovereign the name of unite, it being 

 then of 20s. valwe. The fovereign, which had been com- 

 monly termed the " broad-piece," under the Commonwealth 

 afTumed the uninvidious name of the twenty-fhilling piece, 

 which it retained till fupplanted by that of the guinea, 

 which was proclaimed in 1663, and to pafs for 20s. But 

 it never went for lefs than 2 is. by tacit and univerfal con- 

 fcnt. Pinkerton's Efl. on Medals, vol. ii. 



SOVEREIGNTY, in Po/itical Economy, denotes that 

 public authority, wliich commands in civil fociety, ordering 

 and diredling what each is to perform, in order to obtain 

 the end of its inftitution. This authority belonged ori- 

 ginally and efl'entially to the body of the fcciety, to which 

 each member fubmitted, and ceded the rights he received 

 from nature, to conduft himfelf in every thing as he pleafed, 

 according to the diftates of his own underftanding, and to 

 do himfelf juftice. But the body of this fociety does not 

 always retain this fovereign authority : it frequently truits 

 it to a fenate, or to a fingle perfon. This fenate, or this 

 perfon, is then the fovereign. (See Sovereign, _/a//-a.) 

 It is evident that men form a political fociety, and fubmit 

 to laws, folely for their own fafety and advantage. The 

 fovereign authority is then eftabhlhed, only for the common 

 good of all tlie citizens ; and it would be abfurd to think 

 that it could change its nature, on its pafTing into the hands 

 of a fenate, or a monarch. Flattery, therefore, cannot 

 difown, without rendering itfclf equally ridiculous and 

 odious, that the fivereign is only eitabliflied for the fafety 

 of the flate, and the advantage of fociety. 



A good prince, a wife condudlor of fociety, ought to 

 have his mind imprefTed with this great truth, that the fove- 

 reign power is only entrufted with him for the fafety of the 

 ftate, and for the happinefs of all his people ; that he is not 

 permitted to feek himfelf in the adminiftration of afiairs, 

 to propofe his own fatisfaCtion, or his private advantage ; 

 but that he ought to direct all his views, all hi? fteps, to 

 9 the 



